


Cold Comfort

by seki



Category: The Last Remnant
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-07 00:47:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6778003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seki/pseuds/seki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David briefly lets his true feelings surface.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Set at the end of Disc 1/Nest of Eagles. Major spoilers if you haven't gotten that far.

"Dave? You in here?"

David, his back to the door, made a noise that was most of the way to being a yes, the way he sometimes did when he was distracted. Rush closed the door and was halfway across the room before he actually _realised_ why David hadn't even turned his head.

David was crying. Not loudly, not the ugly, blotchy way Rush had when he'd stopped to think about everything. But still: crying, silently, one hand held up in front of his face as if to conceal the tears. His other arm was wrapped across his own waist, and he was clutching the fabric of his coat in his fist.

Rush knelt on the floor in front of David, grasping David's knees. "Hey, hey now."

"I'm alright," David said, and his voice sounded shaky as hell.

"No, you're crying."

"...yes."

It had been a week since Emma's funeral. It wasn't like it was ever going to get any easier to think about her, Rush supposed, but… he squeezed, gently. "It wasn't your fault, Dave."

"No?" David heaved in a deep breath, letting his hand drop from his face. "Then is there some cosmic reason why all I love is taken from me?"

Oh, man. "I know it must feel like everything's aimed at you, but--"

"My mother. My father. My… Emma. Even my Remnant." David's voice was even shakier. "I lose all I hold dear."

Rush reached up, grabbed David's shoulders, and hauled him into an embrace. "You've got us. Torgal, Emmy, Blocter, Pagus… me."

David made a wet, faint sound over Rush's shoulder.

"None of us are going anywhere, I promise." Rush wrapped his arms around David more tightly. "I'm right here."

David made another damp noise, and then inhaled sharply, and it felt like he was trying to pull away. "Rush--"

Rush let David draw back, so he could see David's face. He'd cried enough to make his eyes red, to leave wet tracks on his face, and his expression was so _openly_ full of pain that it made Rush's heart hurt. "I'm here." Impulsively, he cupped David's face, so David couldn't look away. "I'm not going anywhere."

David's eyes glistened with tears, and he stared at Rush wordlessly, like Rush's words were a lifeline.

"I promise," Rush said, and something leapt up his throat and throttled his vocal cords, so it came out in nearly a whisper. "I won't leave you."

David nodded, slowly.

"I won't," Rush said. "I promise."

And then -- and later, Rush didn't even know why -- still cupping David's face in his hands, Rush brought their lips together in a kiss, his eyes open and watching for David's reaction.

David's eyes were wide with shock for a moment, and then he gripped the back of Rush's jacket and pulled him close, opening his mouth and kissing Rush back urgently, fiercely, _needily_. It took only moments for Rush to feel almost overwhelmed by the kiss, by the desperate noises David was making when necessity demanded their lips part for air, by the way David hauled Rush _up_ and _forward_ until he was straddling David's lap.

This was an awful reason for their first kiss. Rush had just enough coherent thought left to wish that he could have found out that David _liked_ him at a happier time.

It didn't matter. David's hands were on his skin, David's mouth was moving on him, and everything had become about the way David was grinding upwards, hard and hot, against his ass. _Oh_ , _man_. David started scrabbling at Rush's shirt, and it took a moment for Rush to focus enough to realise why; David wanted Rush's shirt off. 

It came off, and Rush clawed at David's arms until he managed to convey that he wanted those ever-present gloves removed. David helped him peel them off, barely letting Rush escape the kiss for a moment, running his hands all over Rush's chest and abdomen as soon as his hands were free.

"Dave," Rush managed to whisper, and David cupped his face in response, softening the kiss enough that Rush could add, "Dave, _yes_."

David slid one hand down, to press against the bulge in the front of Rush's pants, and then he ground upwards again, so that Rush's cock rubbed up against his hand.

"Oh, _yes,"_ Rush mumbled against David's mouth, and David seemed to hesitate for a moment before he moved his mouth down onto Rush's neck. "Don't stop, please."

David ground upwards again, prompting blissful sensations to flood up through Rush's cock, and then he felt the scrape of teeth on his neck. It felt good, the two sensations making a tension hum through his whole body, and Rush gasped, bucking on David's lap, desperate for more.

"Rush," David whispered, his voice sultry and dark, "I want to mark you."

Oh crap. That shouldn't be sexy, but _crap_ , it really was. "Hnnnh."

David's teeth scraped hard against his neck again, and then Rush felt David's mouth fasten onto the raw spot, sucking. It felt good, _possessive_ and primal and wanton, and Rush ground down onto David's lap again, and then forward against David's hand, rocking against the two points.

"Mine," David murmured, his breath hot and sticky on Rush's ear, and then he moved his mouth, biting down again.

Rush sort of lost track of anything, then, except for the sharp sweet stinging sensations at his throat and the steady rising tension in his cock and David's own hard cock pressing up into his ass from below. He came, groaning shamelessly, and David drew back from his efforts at Rush's neck enough to watch him gasping for breath afterwards, his hand tight around Rush's cock through his pants.

"Beautiful," David said, softly, his hand slackening.

Rush got his breath back enough to lean forward, and move _back_ , fumbling between them at David's belt. "I want… your turn."

Between them, they got David unfastened and his cock bared to the air. Rush grasped him, uncertain but determined, and began to slide his fist up and down, watching David watching Rush's hand move, watching David's eyes keep closing in pleasure. Soon, David wrapped one of his own hands around Rush's, and used the other to haul Rush close enough to kiss again, a sloppy, breathy kiss that got sloppier as David's hand forced Rush's to move faster and tighter on him. In the end, David was just gasping into Rush's mouth, and then David looked down between them, muttered something Rush couldn't make out, and pushed Rush backwards as he came, his come spattering up onto Rush's stomach.

Rush held the position as long as he could, as David caught his breath, staring down at his fluids on Rush's skin. David caught at his arm, pulled him back into a stabler position, and kissed him again, this time much more softly and slowly, a languid and intimate kiss.

Rush lifted a hand to touch David's face as their mouths parted, remembering just in time that his hand was kinda… sticky. "Dave, you… I've… thank you."

David made a soft huffing noise. "And you." His face was still a little puffy from the tears, but at least he wasn't actively crying now. "But… we should clean up."

Rush stood up, and immediately sort of regretted it. _Ugh_. He felt gross; his underwear was sticking to his skin, and where it wasn't sticking, moving just made things… slide. He pulled a face, and David seemed to get it, immediately gesturing towards his washroom.

By the time Rush emerged, feeling a bit cleaner and yet still wishing he hadn't come _in his actual pants_ , David seemed perfectly composed, his gloves back on, and looking like… like he hadn't even been crying, let alone anything else. He was staring out of the window, his expression vaguely thoughtful, and didn't act like he'd heard Rush coming back.

Rush's shirt was on the floor, and he grabbed it and pulled it on quickly. And then paused, completely unsure what he should do now.

"I think I'd like to sleep now," David said, almost as if he was talking to the garden outside.

"O… okay."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then, Rush."

Rush nodded, though David wasn't even looking in his direction. "Um. Sure. Tomorrow."

He didn't even think to look in a mirror until the next morning, getting dressed, after a sleepless night spent wondering if the whole thing had been in his imagination. He caught sight of the bruise on his neck, just visible above his clothing. Hooking a finger in his collar and pulling down, he stared at it -- not even just one bruise but a whole bunch, dark purple and lurid against his skin. David had really marked him. The bruises felt fine, to the touch, not even a little tender, even though he kind of expected it to sting like when David had bitten him.

Well. Clearly not in his imagination.

The throne room was never very busy in the mornings, even during the open sessions. David sat, looking alert but approachable, on his throne.

He smiled at Rush, exactly as fond and _friendly_ a smile as Rush had received the day before, and the day before that, here in this room.

"Dave," Rush said, glad that the Generals would let him approach close enough to not be overheard too much. "How are you doing today?"

"Fine, thank you." David glanced away, towards the door. "And you?"

"Um. Yeah. Okay."

David looked back at him, the beginnings of a frown showing. "Is there something you need from me?"

"...no, I guess not." Rush lowered his voice a little. "Dave, are _we_ okay? After last night--"

David's eyes shifted, their focus moving from Rush's face to Rush's neck, and Rush tipped his head to the side, hoping that motion would show the edge of his bruises. He saw the little flicker in David's face, a tiny glint that could have been delight or guilt, before David blanked his expression. "We're fine, Rush. It was a matter of comfort, that's all."

"...Oh." Rush swallowed. "Right. Yeah. Well. As long as it helped."

"It did. Thank you."

Rush retreated out of the throne room, and slumped on a bench outside. Comfort. That was all it was to David, just him clinging to a friend in a moment of grief and sorrow. He'd thought… 

Well. It didn't matter what he thought. He knew better now.

Rush pulled his collar up high. Right then. Friendship. He was good at that. It was totally enough. He didn't have to think about it any more than that.

Time to… stop thinking. Time to find some monsters, kick some a, and… get on with saving the world.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this lying around a while, cut out of a longer fic, but I figure it's okay as a standalone.
> 
> And I can't even explain to myself why I've written two fics in a row with David getting bitey. Oops?


End file.
